The Marches groups

Overview

There are many important households, landskeeper circles, market towns, and monasteries in the Marches. Despite the number, only a comparative handful are involved in the affairs of the Empire (that is, attend the seasonal summits at Anvil). Their influence can wax and wane, and involvement in Imperial affairs is not always a reflection of their prominence within the nation itself. This page presents in-character information about the groups that attend, or have attended, Anvil — the kind of thing that someone who asked about them might uncover from talking to their peers. In each case, the information is provided by the players and edited before being put on the wiki.

The majority of groups listed here are made up of player-characters. You should not create a character who is part of a group, or has personal history with one, without first clearing it with the appropriate players. You should also check before including other players' groups in your background. The background team are unlikely to approve a background that significantly impacts or involves another player character group without their permission. There are also a handful of prominent NPC groups included for completeness, but they are not intended for use by player characters.

Households and Monasteries

The households and monasteries of the Marches wield the lion's share of political power in the nation, because they control the largest amount of farmland.

Market Towns

The market towns are prosperous, but their businesses give them little opportunity to wield political power directly.

Landskeeper circles

Each landskeeper circle has it's own agenda, often tied to the protection or prosperity of a single region.

Contributing

Any player character group in the Marches can submit an entry for this page. The entry should come from the out-of-character group leader and be emailed to plot@profounddecisions.co.uk.

It should contain the following information:

• Group archetype (household, market town, monastery, landskeeper circle). If your group doesn't have one of these archetypes, it will be listed in the "other" section.
• Territory and region where the groups lands are physically located. Households have estates and farms, while market towns and monasteries are built around actual structures. Even a landskeeper circle will have a specific location where they meet, such as an old monolith, or the backroom of a certain tavern.
• If you are a household, then a description of your livery is appropriate
• Any Marcher group that has a particular symbol associated with them can include an image; likewise many Marcher groups have a motto or saying that sums up their history or attitudes. Both can be included with your contribution.
• The name of your steward if you are a household. If there is someone in your market town, monastery, or landskeeper circle that serves as the in-character leader of the group, you can mention them and their title here

You should also include up to 250 words of description, detailing the kind of things that other characters might know about your group. Have a look at the description for a Marcher household, a knightly order, or at the pages for the appropriate archetypes for ideas on the kind of information that is useful. You must also include a few sentences of history, especially around the circumstances of the group's formation or origin.

Some other questions to consider include:

• Does your group have any notable grudges against another group, class of people, region, territory, or concept? What's the basis for that grudge?
• Are there any particular archetypes the group is associated with that might be unexpected?
• Is there anything notable about the land your group claims?

Things to avoid include:

• Too much worldbuilding detail — this represents information other characters may know about your house. It's not a place to define elements of the game world
• Lists of character names — this isn't a place for getting your name on the wiki
• Too much emphasis on the past — while it's useful to have a few lines of history, what matters in Empire is what your house does on the field at events

It's possible to update the information on this page over time (for example if your in-character group leader changes) with an e-mail to plot@profounddecisions.co.uk.